 I had chickpea pasta for the first time ever tonight. This was an event even after having already tried green lentil pasta, black bean pasta and other veggie pastas. I have to say I've liked them all... but I had a special feeling about chickpea pasta. The brand I purchased was Explore Cuisine and after it's trip home from the grocery store it sat in my cabinet for two weeks. After tonight, I can officially say that chickpea pasta and I are a match made in fluffy fusilli heaven. Firstly, I love chickpeas... secondly, I like pasta. This blend is a well-done best of both worlds. Strangely enough you can eat it even without sauce! It already naturally has 'creamy / sticky' texture to it after boiling. Before I adopted a vegan diet, I did come to know the texture of 'egg noodles' and I would compare chickpea pasta in some ways to them! (only a much better alternative in so many ways). Add all of the above with the fact that you drop some of the guilt (there are carbs in this but not quite as many) of eating traditional heavy pasta while picking up more protein and you've got a winning replacement for your usual pasta lunches and dinners for sure. After cooking per the box instructions, to dress this pasta I added a very small amount of olive oil (you don't have to add much), olives, spinach leaves, tomato, and red onions. Delicious, easy and healthy... though you wouldn't know it. You feel like you're just eating rich pasta. This is also a shoo-in noodle for creamy / cheezy plantbased sauces too. (Though I've loved them I can't really say that about the other veggie pastas I've had). Cook time (after the water reaches boiling point) is 11-12 minutes.
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My husband and I are going on our third year vegan anniversary! Before going vegan (more info on why here) I was vegetarian for many years before that. Since I share and post quite a bit about my vegan diet on my social media channels for friends and family to see, I do sometimes (happily!) get to answer some questions about starting a vegan diet or switching over to a diet with less meat and dairy. On top of the other reasons for switching over to a more plant-based and vegan diet, food allergies (especially to dairy) are common. I recently put the special list below together for a friend and I thought why no also share it with you below! Below is a list of Quick Non-Dairy / No Meat meals that are microwavable (great for or college dorms, break rooms, travel, or apartments with small kitchenettes). Most of the following items are available in most US food stores. Feel free to utilize this list if you're working on transitioning your shopping list and diet to swap out meat / dairy. Breakfast Shopping Ideas 1) Bob's Red Mill or other quick cook oatmeal 2) Blueberries & strawberries 3) Coconut or almond milk (optional) 4) Coconut flakes (optional) 5) Walnuts or other nuts (optional) 6) Bagels 7) Earth balance butter (non-dairy) 8) Kite Hill or Aldi Non-Dairy Cream Cheese 9) Avocado + bread for toast 10) Salt and cayenne pepper (for on avocado toast) 11) Soy milk or Silk Nut Milk (with or without vanilla) 12) Jam or Jelly Meals: Oatmeal with fruit, nuts, and coconut, Avocado toast, Bagel with non-dairy butter or almond cream cheese and jelly, Glass of dairy-free milk on the side Microwavable Lunch / Dinner Ideas: 1) Veggie Burger (Dr Praeger's Quinoa & Black Bean is a good one) + Arnold's sesame bun 2) Grilled Chao Cheese with Tomato or Pickle 3) Peanut Butter & Jelly 4) Field Roast Veggie Hotdog with Ketchup & Mustard 5) Gardein Meatball Sandwich Night (microwave in bowl with sauce and add to roll). Add Cashew Parm or Yeast Flakes. 6) Gardein Chick'n Fingers 7) Gardein Chick'n Sliders 8) Gardein Skillet Meals - (Vegan Chick'n Florentine or Italian with Plant Sausage - precook and then microwave) 9) Amy's Vegan Mac n' Cheeze (Pumpkin & Sweet Potato or Gluten-Free Chedda Mac) 10) Amy's Vegan Soups 11) Amy's Vegan Margherita Pizza 12) Amy's Vegan Microwavable Lasagna (Non-dairy vegan version)) 13) Amy's Roasted Vegetable Pizza (Cheese-Free) 14) Amy's Microwavable Dairy-Free Burritos 15) Wholefoods Vegan Veggie Dumplings (if available in your Wholefoods) Snacks & Desserts: 1) Cybele's Free to Eat Chocolate Chip Cookies 2) Endangered Species Brand Dark Chocolate (Non-Dairy) 3) Cocomels Coconut Milk Chocolate Candies (Non-Dairy) 4) Hummus with Crackers & Veggies 5) Kite Hill Jalapeno Cream Cheese for Crackers / Pita Chips 6) Stacy's Pita Chips Plain 7) Stacy's Cinnamon Pita Chips 8) Skinny Pop 9) Apple Chips 10) Nugo Bars (Protein chocolate bars) 11) Sunflower Seeds 12) Pumpkin Seeds 13) Made Good Snacks brand Granola Bars or Other (any - allergen free!) All of the above are great non-dairy / no-meat quick-meals for break rooms, college dorms, travel, or apartments with small kitchenettes.  
These Teriyaki Tofu Tacos were delicious. I made them with the help of Chip & Kale.
Chip & Kale is a Pittsburgh PA area based meal service that offers delicious meal kits. After months of peeping the food on their website that looked delicious, I thought I'd finally give ordering a try! The meal kits comes in convenient bags that you can definitely wash out and reuse if you'd like. Each ingredient is pre-measured and the instructions are on the front of the bag.
When you order from Chip & Kale, you will get 5 meal kits that meant to make 4 servings each for around $110! This works out to around $5.50 per meal which is pretty economical when you think about it... and your cooking and menu planning is made easy for that price to boot. Just be aware that if you have a pretty big appetite however and eat two meals per serving, your meals make work out to be a little higher per meal. (I.E. If you eat 2 servings at meal time usually, your kits will work out to serving you ten times instead of twenty). My husband and I found that, with our appetites (and his is a big one!) that our weekly kit made us about 15-20 safely - pretty cool! Each meal kit is plant-based (YUM) and vegan friendly and these are meals anyone would enjoy. One simple criticism people not picking up their meals and having them shipped may have is that the shipping packaging does include packing foam etc. to keep your kits cold. If you are looking for zero-waste rather than vegan eating, this is not going to be for you.. however, my husband and I found this service and amazing value with delicious cruelty-free meals and we think that rocks / makes a huge impact in itself. We made our kits around dinner time and used the leftovers for lunches. You can leave the bags in your freezer for a while so you don't have to make them all at once or even every day! This means that on week's order could theoretically easily last you two weeks. I started out with this very easy Chickpea salad kit. The cool thing about this chickpea salad is that it has spicy twist. It included cranberries, spices, chickpeas (of course), hummus, and celery. Here's a video of my first experience / attempt below. I did this on a cooler winter day as you can tell by the scarf and hat. Try to focus on the delicious chickpea salad instead. ;) Below are a few photos of some of the other vegan, filling and delicious meals I prepared with the help of Chip & Kale:
By the way, these meals would make excellent wedding gift, house or apartment warming gift, or gift for someone new to cooking plant-based meals. Aside from being delicious, they make the learning experience super easy!
TOFU TERIYAKI TACOS - Made with a Chip & Kale Meal Kit
CRANBERRY & CHICKPEA SALAD SANDWICH - Made with a Chip & Kale meal kit
BUFFALO TEMPEH BOWL - Made with a Chip & Kale Meal Kit
APPLE SAUSAGE (vegan) AND FARRO BOWL - Made with a Chip & Kale meal kit
PEANUT BURGERS WITH RELISH GLAZE ON A PRETZILLA BUN - Made with a Chip & Kale Meal Kit
TAQUITOS & SALSA - Made with a Chip & Kale Meal Kit
SPICY TEMPEH & BAGEL WITH BEAN SALAD - Made with a Chip & Kale meal kit
Did you like this post or find it helpful? Want to try Chip & Kale? Please feel free to use my referral link here! I really appreciate it! - Order through Melissa's link: ​
Melissa's Chip & Kale Referral link |
Plantbased Meal IdeasHey there, I'm an advocate of a cruelty-free or at the very least less cruel lifestyle. Plant-based eating has been proven to cause less harm overall to sentient animals. Why not try adding some more plant-based foods into your diet. ArchivesCategories |
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